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Loeffler: Canelo is looking to fight someone easier than GGG in September

May 27th, 2018 - Comments Closed

By Dan Ambrose: Tom Loeffler thinks the major reason why Golden Boy Promotions aren’t showing interest in giving middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin a fairer deal for the rematch with Saul Canelo Alvarez for September 15 is because they’re looking for an easier opponent for him.

Loeffler wants a 50-50 split of the revenue for GGG in the second fight against Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs), but all Golden Boy is reportedly offering is the same 65/35 purse split as they did for the May 5 rematch, which failed to take place because of Alvarez’s two positive tests for clenbuterol.

Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) received a 70-30 split for the first fight against Canelo on September 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. GGG appeared to win, but two of the judges – Adalaide Byrd and Don Trella – turned in scores that resulted in the fight being ruled a split draw.

“I understand Canelo’s position … he’s looking to fight someone a lot easier than GGG [Golovkin] in September, and I think that’s why they’re not looking to negotiate a more fair deal with GGG,” Loeffler said to the latimes.com.

Loeffler says Canelo is looking to fight someone “a lot easier” than Golovkin, but according to his promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, he’s saying that he could fight Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders, Jermall Charlo or Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan on the Mexican Independence Day holiday on September 15 on HBO pay-per-view. If the 27-year-old Canelo fight Saunders, Jacobs or Charlo, those guys wouldn’t be easy fights for him. I do think they would technically be easier for Canelo to fight Charlo, Saunders and Jacobs than it would be for him to fight Golovkin, but it would be far from easy. All three of them would have a good chance of beating Canelo if the fight took place in a neutral city where arguably the chances of them winning a decision would be higher than if it takes place in the Mexican fighter’s favor city of Las Vegas.

If Golovkin doesn’t face Canelo in September, then his next fight will be against his International Boxing Federation ordered mandatory challenger Sergey Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) likely in August. Golovkin must fight Derevyanchenko, 32, by then or else he’ll be stripped of his IBF 160lb title. Golovkin isn’t ducking the fight with Derevyanchenko, as many believe him to be, but rather he wants to get bigger money rematch against Canelo done first if possible before he takes that fight.

“It’s clear Canelo waited until he got to the point he believed he could beat Gennady. He couldn’t beat him. If Canelo was confident in the fight, he wouldn’t have a problem negotiating a more fair split,” Loeffler said.

It’s widely believed that Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions waited two years until Golovkin was 35-years-old before they chose to make the fight with him last September in order to age him to increase their chances of success. It’s also believed that after Canelo struggled and was arguably beaten by Golovkin last September, he purposefully chose not to fight him in a rematch in December and instead made him wait eight months until May 5 for a second fight. A lot of boxing fans think that. But after Canelo tested positive twice for clenbuterol, it wiped out the May 5 rematch.

Some people believe Canelo used clenbuterol to increase his chances of beating Golovkin in the rematch, because he had stamina problems against the Kazakhstan fighter last September that limited him to only being able to fight hard in the first minute of each round. Instead of Canelo fighting hard for 36 minutes, as most fighters do during their 12 round fights, he was only able to fight hard for 12 minutes for the entire fight. It didn’t matter. The judges still gave him a 12 round split decision, but it was so controversial with the boxing fans that it made Canelo and his promoters look bad in the eyes of many fans, as if they had been given preferential treatment.

Loeffler says they’re only looking for a fair split of the revenue for the Canelo rematch. They’re not looking to get more than a 50-50 deal, which they believe they deserve due to the circumstances that were involved in the previous fight and the scratched May 5th rematch. Loeffler says it’s not Gennady’s fault that Canelo tested positive twice for clenbuterol and had to pull out of the rematch. Golovkin fought Vanes Martirosyan instead on May 5 and knocked him out in 2 rounds on HBO World Championship Boxing at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Golovkin, 36, was upset with Canelo after learning of his two positive samples for the banned performance enhancing substance clenbuterol, as this is a substance that assists athletes with their stamina to help them perform at a higher level. Canelo’s major flaw against Golovkin last September was his stamina. He lacked the endurance to fight hard for the full three minutes of each round. Canelo fought like he was an old car trying to go up a steep hill. He would do well at the very beginning of the rounds, but then he would stall out in the last two-thirds of each round and spend the time moving or resting with his back against the ropes to rest. It was troubling to watch a young 27-year-old fighter seemingly in his prime looking so exhausted fighting a guy that is 8 years older than him in Golovkin, who was 35 at the time. Canelo should have been able to fight harder, much harder without needing rest breaks. Canelo clearly isn’t made for the type of face-paced fights that Golovkin enjoys. There’s a huge difference in the engine of the two fighters. Golovkin thrives on fights that fought at a fast pace. Canelo prefers fights to be slower, more methodical. It’s believe that Golovkin is going to look to push a super face pace on Canelo in the rematch to wear him down and stop him. This time, Golovkin won’t let there be space between them for Canelo to run from him like he did last September.

The previous 70-30 purse split Triple G got for the first fight against Canelo Alvarez won’t do, and neither will the 65/35 split that Golden Boy wants him to agree to for the rematch. Loeffler feels that Canelo expects Golovkin to agree to the same terms for the May 5th rematch. The negotiations for that canceled fight took place before Canelo’s two positive samples for clenbuterol. Golovkin’s IBF title wasn’t at risk of being stripped from him by the sanctioning body as it is now.